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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24176506">Arthur Morgan rides a horse</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiscKlaire/pseuds/MiscKlaire'>MiscKlaire</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, I'm excited to be there when it happens, Im still playing the game I haven't seen them fall in love yet, M/M, Silly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 22:48:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>980</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24176506</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiscKlaire/pseuds/MiscKlaire</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur Morgan is a cowboy. Sometimes he says hi to people, sometimes he accidentally pushes them over, but mostly he rides his horse. I have never played the game before.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Arthur Morgan/Dutch van der Linde, Arthur Morgan/Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Arthur Morgan rides a horse</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A/N: I haven't written fic since 2009, easily, and I've kind of haven't been in fandom much since then. I've been wanting to come back. Hopefully this video game about cowboys will get me there 👌</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chapter 1</p>
<p>Arthur Morgan was riding his horse one day in the spring. The birds were chirping softly, singing his way to Valentine. The warmth of the spring time lifted his soul and he felt cheerful, quite possibly for the first time in his dreary life, but he wasn't thinking about that right now, no right now Arthur Morgan was riding his horse, listening to the birds sing, and enjoying the spring time. He was saying hi to everyone he passed by on the road. Sometimes he accidentally asked them to stop, causing them to ask if he were in trouble, and he felt so awkward at these instances that it took him a few anxious moments before he felt himself able to speak. (A/N: Rockstar this is so annoying let me press buttons whenever I want plz) </p>
<p>Arthur Morgan arrived in Valentine - or, at the post office, at least. Or at least Arthur thought it was a post office. Yet when he walked inside and spoke to the only clerk, all he could do was buy train tickets! The train tickets frightened Arthur, and he quickly declined. Why ride a train when one could ride a horse? What would happen to his horse if he got on the train? And what were those places the train went to, anyhow? He had never heard of them before. </p>
<p>Granted, he didn't like towns much, he mused, as he deftly jumped the porch railing and fell into the mud. So perhaps the fact that he'd never heard of the places the train went to, didn't necessarily mean that those places were to be feared. Perhaps his Marauders map was flawed; there did seem to be an awful lot of cloud cover in the not-as-wild Wild East. </p>
<p>As he stumbled toward and muddied up onto his horse, he noticed the stars twinkling bright above him, and realized with a start that it was in fact the middle of the night. How could that be? When he left camp today it was morning. Does it take that long to get to Valentine? He remembered getting lost on a mountain top and having to gently ease back down on fear of death by mountain; that definitely would have taken some time. So perhaps it was reasonable for it to be night time right now. </p>
<p>Well, no clothing stores would be open in the middle of the night, so Arthur huffed along north, following his whimsy, waiting for the sunrise. He still said howdy to whomever he passed, but his heart wasn't in it. He heard someone speak and somehow knew it was an O'Driscoll, but again didn't have the heart to do anything about it. Dutch would probably be angry; Dutch had been angrier lately. Arthur wished someone would tell him about what happened on that damned boat, but… What if it would change things? What if something has happened that was so bad, it changed his opinion on Dutch, forever? Arthur didn't know if he could handle that. He put it out of his mind and focused on the spring morning. </p>
<p>Indeed it was a spring morning, again! Man and horse galloped as one back to Valentine, where Arthur enjoyed greeting the people and spent almost all his money on a spankin' new outfit. He did encounter a spooky ghost mystery, where a hauntingly sad voice of an old veteran taunted him on the streets. Arthur wandered and wailed, searching for him, searching for the veteran, and his voice was everywhere and nowhere, no body and no source, just consuming him from within his heart and mind. </p>
<p>And then he turned a different corner and found the old veteran, and gave him a hug, and then, mystery solved at last, he went into the saloon. </p>
<p>The saloon was dim, and exciting; a golden energy hung in the air, a spark, if you will, of threatening masculinity combined with the human desire to break stuff. He saw his friends, Javier and Yeah That Other Guy, flirting with some lovely ladies of the night. Or were they ladies of the night? Arthur wasn't sure, and yes I am embarrassed to say that he embarrassed himself and was not very nice, and the ladies this embarrassed left the gentlemen. Javier and That Guy chided Arthur for his mistake, and then in the blink of an eye the whole bar erupted in a fist fight. Arthur really got into it with some guy upstairs, and it ended up in the street, but luckily was over without anyone dying. Arthur had seen enough death in his life. He wanted a new life now. A better one. </p>
<p>He thought about that, covered in mud, sitting in the rain on a wet and well-patted horse. This was a chance for him. Way out here, in an East unwilded, he had a chance to live a different sort of life. To be a different sort of person. To run more errands to his camp mates. To give more food to Pearson, and not just wonder why he didn't sell his own goddamn leather working tools because where am I supposed to find those otherwise. To play dominoes with Hosea, to laugh with Charles, to, talk to Dutch. Maybe they would talk again. Maybe it would be like what it used to be. </p>
<p>Probably not, though. </p>
<p><br/>
~ Two weeks later ~ </p>
<p>Time had passed in the Valentine area, and to Arthur, it was as if they'd gone in a flash. Dutch seemed to be in a better mood, which Arthur thought mighty suspicious. It had been two weeks to the day since his mud-soaked night of promise on horseback. Could he have done this? </p>
<p>Could he have wished Dutch into a better mood?</p>
<p>At that moment, he heard something he hadn't heard since before the boat job. He heard Dutch laugh… from the heart. </p>
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